Homegrown Music... and Musical Instruments!

Image Gallery Down-home musician Marc Bristol sings and strums a tune at a local music festival.

Even homesteaders need to relax and enjoy themselves from time to time, right? And almost everybody these days wants to cut his or her cost of living. So how about a little doit-yourself entertainment?

And that's what this column is all about. Down-home music that you can make . . . and the instruments (which, in some cases, you can also make!) to play that music on.

The important thing is that this is your column. If you like it, write to me and let me know. If you have some ideas for this feature, let me know that. I'm open to any suggestions or information you care to contribute. I'll even try to answer your questions about down-home music . . . but—both for the benefit of all MOTHER's readers and to ease my correspondence load—I'll deal with those questions, whenever possible, here in this column . . . rather than in personal letters.

Address your correspondence— for this column and this column only—to Marc Bristol, 31722 N. E. 180th Place, Duvall, Wash. 98019.

Bass and Washboard Update

As almost anybody who's the least bit musically inclined can tell you, a band wouldn't be complete without bass and percussion instruments. The rhythm-makers add definition and focus to any piece of music and seem to make the melody bounce along more naturally. And, in most homegrown music, these necessary roles are played by the washtub bass and the scrubboard . . . two instruments that I introduced to you in my first column (back in MOTHER NO. 50).

Since that initial article, though, I've picked up a whole passel of new information on the two homegrown musicmakers (some of it from readers of this column, and some gathered during interviews and workshops) . . . and now I'm going to wrap up all those gleanings into a neat package for you.

A NEW TUB DESIGN

The first item I'd like to pass along was described to me by a MOTHER-reader, Kevin Potter. He calls the invention an upright washtub bass . . . and it's essentially a banjo-style version of the bull fiddle, which uses the tub for a "pot".

Kevin's creation is a hybrid instrument . . . made partly from scrounged pieces and partly from elements of a conventional bass fiddle. The neck of the musicmaker is a hardwood push-mower handle, and the stand is actually a chair or table leg. The fiddle's tuning peg, bridge, and string are the same as those used on a "real" instrument. (Kevin and I agree that it is possible to make the same pieces out of any good hardwood scraps ... and that you could use nylon filament, or even clothesline, for the string.)